Firmament - Hardcover

Bowler, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689861613 ISBN 13: 9780689861611

Verlag: Margaret K. McElderry, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

"Good hands, Luke," Dad had said. "Special hands. Strong and sensitive. You can do anything you want with hands like these. So don't ever put them to bad use."

Luke has good hands. Everybody says so. Good for playing the piano -- just like his father did before he died. And good for climbing -- climbing trees, climbing toward the stars, in search of some peace away from family troubles.Now Skin and his gang want Luke to do some climbing for them. They want him to climb into Mrs. Little's house to look for something to steal. They want him to prove he's a real part of the gang.But nobody is ready for what Luke discovers when he does climb into the house. He encounters something so unexpected that it changes everything -- something that unlocks secrets and helps Luke find out exactly who he is and what it is that he's been searching for.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Tim Bowler has written seven novels for teenagers and is one of the most prominent authors currently writing for this age group. His first novel, Midget, established him as a thrilling new voice in young adult literature. His third novel, River Boy, won the prestigious Carnegie Medal, and his books have also won numerous other prizes. His most recent novels are Storm Catchers and the highly acclaimed Firmament.

Mr. Bowler lives with his wife in Devon, England, and is a full-time writer.

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Excerpt

Chapter One

He didn't see her; but he heard her voice. It came whispering on the dusk like a dark, dreamy echo: a young girl's voice, so light it was like hearing the voice of a spirit in the trees of Buckland Forest behind him; yet it was coming from the direction of The Grange. He stared at the old house and listened again, then realized with a start that it was the sound of weeping.

He looked at the others. Skin and Daz were still staring over the wall toward the house. Speed was slumped on the ground, eating a doughnut, his fat stubby fingers covered in sugar and jam; but he looked up. "Luke? You okay? You look kind of funny."

"I'm fine."

It was obvious none of the other boys had heard the voice. Speed had turned straight back to his doughnut and the other two hadn't even glanced around. Their eyes were fixed, as they had been for the last hour, on the front of the house, Daz's ferrety features twitching but Skin's dangerously still and his face as fierce as fire. Luke hesitated, then spoke again.

"Can anybody hear anything?"

"Speedy burping," said Daz, not looking around. "But that's nothing new."

Luke frowned. The girl's voice seemed so clear now. Why couldn't the others hear it? He inched closer to the wall and peered over. Before him the garden of the Grange stretched away with its great untended lawn and flowerbeds and broken-down sheds, and beyond that, over to the left, the house itself, tall and gaunt in the failing light.

"Any sign of Mrs. Little?" called Speed from below the wall.

"Not yet," said Skin.

"Maybe she won't come out tonight."

"She will."

"You can't be certain she's going to come out. I mean, she hardly ever leaves the place." Speed took another bite from the doughnut. Skin flashed an angry glance at him, then turned back to the house.

"She'll come." He narrowed his eyes to slits. "She always goes to the village shop on Friday evenings and she'll do the same tonight. Just watch."

"Well, she'll have to hurry up," said Speed. "Or it'll be closed."

"It's late-night opening. She's got time." Skin stiffened suddenly. "There she is. Keep still and get ready to duck if she looks this way."

Luke held himself rigid and watched as Mrs. Little emerged from the house with her shopping bags, closed the front door behind her, and made her way toward the gate. Daz shook his head. "That is one seriously ugly old woman."

It was true. She had to be the most repulsive-looking woman Luke had ever seen. She was certainly the most unpopular person in Upper Dinton. It was hard to believe there could ever have been a Mr. Little, not that anyone in the village knew anything about him. They didn't know much about her either, except that she'd lived at The Grange for about two years, all by herself, and that if anyone came near the house, she snapped at them and told them to get lost. It was as though she hated everybody in the world, especially fourteen-year-old louts, as she clearly saw them.

But now it was payback time. Now they were going to get her back for all the times she'd mouthed off to them. Because Mrs. Little was rich. No one knew exactly how rich but it was obvious she was loaded. The Grange was the most expensive property in Upper Dinton, a beautiful old house, set apart from the rest of the village and with a great walled garden stretching right up to the edge of Buckland Forest - you had to have plenty of money to buy a place like this. But it wasn't money Skin was after.

It was the box. Money would do, too, of course, if there was some lying around, but what Skin wanted - to the point of obsession - was the box he'd seen the old woman holding that time he peered through the window to check the place out. There had to be something really valuable inside it, jewels probably. Not that he'd seen any; but that didn't matter. Whatever was inside, it was worth going for. The way she'd cradled the box and looked about her as she checked the contents, like a miser guarding her hoard - even if it wasn't jewels inside, it had to be something pretty important to Mrs. Little, so it was worth swiping for that reason alone.

"She's going," murmured Daz.

Luke watched the old woman's figure disappear up the path toward Nut Bush Lane, then turn down it in the direction of the village. He felt Skin's eyes upon him.

"Right, Luke. Over to you."

"I don't know if I want to do this anymore."

"Sure you do." Skin looked him over. "We've been through this. You want to be part of the gang. And we want you to be part of the gang. But we need to know we can trust you. We need to know you've got the guts." His eyes hardened. "Because if you haven't, we don't want you and you can clear off back to your piano playing and your music lessons."

Luke looked back at the house and again heard the sound of weeping. Skin's voice came darkly back. "You're either for us or against us, Luke. And you don't want to be against us. If you get my meaning."

Luke stared into Skin's eyes and it was like looking at two black flames. Close by, he sensed Daz and Speed watching his face. He bit his lip and tried to shut the weeping from his mind.

"Okay," he said.

"Good boy," said Skin.

They scrambled down to the path and ran along beside the wall as far as the gate. Skin stopped suddenly and glanced quickly around. All calmness was gone now; his face was as keen as a hunting dog's. From the forest end of the track came the sound of horses' hooves.

"Quick!" he said. "Round the side of the house!"

They climbed over the gate, sped around the building to the back, and waited, pressed against the wall. The sound of the hooves grew louder as they approached the house. Luke peeped around the side of the wall.

"Who is it?" whispered Skin.

"Miranda Davis and her dad," he said, watching the two riders disappear from view in the direction of Nut Bush Lane.

Speed chortled. "Luke's girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," said Luke.

"Oh, yeah? I've seen you two yakking at school."

"Shut up!" said Skin. "We've got things to do."

He led them farther round the back of The Grange and stopped on the lawn. The house now looked sleepy in the half-light; the curtains were drawn across, both upstairs and down, and there were no lights on that Luke could see. Skin pointed to the nearest window on the ground floor. "That's the sitting room. That's where she was when I saw her with the box. Only I was looking in from the other side. I managed to climb up the wall by the track and see over."

"Maybe that's where the box is now," said Daz. "In the sitting room."

"Doubt it. She'd keep it somewhere out of sight if it's really valuable. But we can check the room out. See if you can find a gap in the curtain to look through."

Daz ran over, found one at once, and put an eye to it.

"Bit of a weird place," he said. "Full of funny ornaments and stuff." He went on peering through the gap. "And it's really dusty in there. She doesn't do a lot of cleaning." He gave a snigger. "At least Luke'll feel at home. It's got a grand piano. He can play us some classical music while we're looking around."

Luke ignored the sneer.

"Any sign of the box?" said Skin.

"No," said Daz.

"Let me try." Skin walked up to the window, squinted through the gap for a few moments, then spoke again. "No, can't see it either. Doesn't matter. We'll have a better look around once we're inside." He straightened up and turned. "Right, it's time for Luke Stanton to deliver."

Luke felt all eyes fix upon him. Skin walked up and put an arm around his shoulder. "Come with me, Lucky Luke. I'll show you something me and Daz spotted from behind the wall while Speedy was gobbling his doughnut and you were staring into space." He led them farther round the back of the house and pointed upward. "There."

...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Margaret K. McElderry
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2004
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0689861613
• ISBN 13: 9780689861611
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar